Wednesday, August 06, 2014

A bowl of steamed white rice is precious in our home. Not only it is food and that every bit of food should not be wasted, it is also an "ingredient" that is hard to come by as it is not our home's grain-staple.

The only few times we have leftover cooked white rice at home is when there is remaining rice-portions from take-outs or from rice-leftovers when we dine out.

Isn't it weird that while the majority is shunning white rice for health reasons, I have actually started to include white rice
in our diet? However as I have said quite many times, moderation is key, including "grains" or carb options. In a week, we switched among pasta (durum wheat), noodles and bread (wheat), rice, oats, quinoa and millet.

Another reason to stock up white rice at home is because of fried rice. Truth is, fried rice is truly fried rice when made with white rice. Brown rice works, not to mention these healthy "grains-options" such as quinoa, mixed-grains rice; BUT that does not taste as good as the fried rice we grew up with.

If you have been to some Chinese restaurants and ordered vegetarian fried rice, know that it is a rip-off when you are charged $12 or more for a plate of fried rice cooked with white rice, eggs, and a few diced-stems (leftovers! scraps! of green vegetables e.g. probably Gai Lan or broccoli). Bleh!

Anyway, the message is: don't have vegetarian fried rice outside, make it at home with your own food scraps. Food scraps may sound disgusting, but from your very own kitchen, such vegetables/produce at their last leg is of known source and does not mean sub-par quality; and most importantly, it can turn a two-day-fridge-old rice into a tasty delight.

Directions: Heat 1 tbsp of oil in pan or wok. Fry up garlic, add the thinly sliced broccoli stems and fry till stems are slightly tender (about 2mins). Add the brussel sprouts leaves, fry for about 1 min. Add the white rice and loosen any clumps in the hot pan. Fry at medium heat till rice loosens up. Push the rice on one side of the pan. Add 1 tsp of oil in the center of the pan and then slowly add the egg in the center. Break up the egg and then re-mix the rice on the side to the egg and fry them together. Add green onions, salt and pepper to taste.